In panophthalmitis, or suppurative inflammation of the eyeball, we find the swollen lids, difficulty of, and pain on motion, chemosis of the conjunctiva, severe pain in the eyeball, lachrymation, etc., again indicating the remedy. Rhus tox. is one of the few drugs that have cured this most fatal of lesions, and its success in restoring the integrity of the eye, in some cases where this result has seemed almost impossible, is a matter of record.
The symptom “heaviness and stiffness of the eyelids, like paralysis, as if difficult to move the eyelids,” would seem to indicate its use in ptosis, and this condition as well as paralysis of certain of the ocular muscles, is curable by rhus tox., especially if due to wetting or dampness. Such cures have been made frequently in the clinics of the Ophthalmic Hospital. Erysipelas of the eyelids often presents the characteristic symptoms of rhus. Of course the swelling of the lids is always present, but many of these cases have in addition the chemosis, hot lachrymation, the characteristic pains and aggravation, restlessness, vesicular eruptions, etc., and it is a valuable and efficient remedy when these exist.
Although rhus tox. is specially useful in the most serious inflammations of the deeper and more important structures of the eyeball and surrounding tissues, its sphere is not confined to these conditions alone, but seems to cover almost all the acute diseases to which the visual organs are subject. Given a rheumatic origin, especially if it be from exposure to damp or wet weather, with profuse lachrymation (pain in and about the eye) a tendency to chemosis of the conjunctiva, œdema of the lids, photophobia, and the characteristic aggravation and restlessness at night, and this valuable drug will rarely be found wanting in any of the inflammations of the conjunctiva, cornea, or lids.
I have many times cured with it acute catarrhal conjunctivitis, phlyctenular conjunctivitis and keratitis and ulcers of the cornea, and have subdued the acute aggravations of conjunctivitis trachomatosa, where the above symptoms, or some of them, were present. It is also frequently successful in the treatment of abscess of the lid, which, while not a serious, is an extremely painful disease.
Dr. W. A. Phillips, in an article published in the Jour. of Oph., Otol. and Lar., July, 1899, page 224, recommends the use of rhus tox., “when the ciliary muscle itself seems to be the special seat of trouble; when its muscular tone is disturbed from previous straining, and when inability is present after using the eyes for reading any considerable time, notwithstanding optical correction.”
He has had much success with the drug in these cases and considers that its action here is on a plane with that on lameness or soreness due to rheumatism. In my opinion another factor may be spoken of. One of the differential points between arsenic and rhus is that the arsenic patient is actually so weak that he cannot do what he would wish, while the rhus patient feels so weak that he cannot do it, but by making the effort he can overcome his weakness and accomplish what he desires. This seems to indicate in the rhus case an indisposition to exertion due to want of tone of the muscular system, and this explanation applied to the ciliary muscle would account for the successful action of this drug in the class of cases indicated.
I would not have it understood that I consider rhus tox. an universal panacea for all the inflammatory diseases of the eye; all of these affections are many times extremely variable in their presenting symptoms and other remedies are frequently called for, but the drug under consideration is one of the first importance and is most reliable and efficient when accurately prescribed.
TREATMENT OF SARCOMA WITH THE MIXED TOXINS OF ERYSIPELAS AND BACILLUS PRODIGIOSUS.
BY A. WORRALL PALMER, M. D., NEW YORK.
The numerous modes of treating sarcoma or any other variety of cancer, and the constant experimentation on the part of the profession with new methods, only go to show how inadequate is our ability to meet this intractable disease.